Herzog Irish dynasty is unbowed; we won't allow them to erase it - opinion

The naming subcommittee of the council had proposed that the Herzog name be erased and replaced with something like “Free Palestine Park.”

In the great scheme of things, this is a tiny piece of parkland – 0.05% of the Dublin parkland footprint – right in the heart of what was once a thriving Jewish community, but within the remaining geographical nucleus of the community, including the only Jewish school.

There are huge swaths of unnamed parkland that could be dedicated to the Palestinian people, but they chose this tiny strip of green.

The eponymous park was named in recognition of Herzog’s Irish childhood and teenage years, and then the greatness he achieved on the world stage, in particular, as president of Israel.

His career and legacy have been extensively written about, following on from his father, a republican and the first chief rabbi of Ireland, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who went on to become chief rabbi of Israel.

A sign of the esteem in which his father was held, president Michael D. Higgins welcomed him, the same man who was no friend to Israel, as we have seen, and yet he recognized this majestic Irish export and one of huge historical significance.

So how did we get to this moment now?

It has since been well documented and recognized that official Ireland has taken one of most aggressively anti-Israel stances.

While the Irish government has tried to differentiate between its attacks on Israel and any relationship with antisemitism, this line has inevitably been blurred and exploited.

There has indisputably been an ongoing campaign by some players in Irish society to demonize not just all Israelis but any Jew who identifies as a Zionist. It’s okay to be a Jew, but only on their terms, and it’s okay to have a park named after a Jew, but only one they approve of.

This attempt to rename Herzog Park was the most nakedly antisemitic act we have seen in an increasingly hostile environment.

Almost as soon as the notice of the impending vote appeared, in addition to action by the official Jewish community representatives, an organic grassroots campaign began. By the Irish. We all did it independently, despite the allegations this was the work of some orchestrated “Zionist” lobby.

I and others posted on X/Twitter, which then exploded. The support was overwhelming from many Irish people. Six left-wing councillors from the Labour and Green parties wrote to me to say they would have voted against.

The attempted de-naming did receive huge pushback – it was called out by An Taoiseach, An Tanaiste, and many other leading politicians and journalists.

As it turned out, the vote could not take place, because there was no legal framework to do so.

However, the meeting went ahead and was live streamed, and watching it left me feeling utterly sick and despondent. There was palpable hatred in that room.

The revisionist bigots claimed Chaim Herzog as responsible for ethnic cleansing in 1948, some 50 years before the naming of Herzog Park, and 70 years before his official centennial commemorations in Ireland.

They have also traduced the Herzog name, bringing the current president into their virtual world of hate.

This is personal for me. There is a historical Abrahamson-Herzog connection, which I am proud to say continues to this day.

The president is a man of tremendous principle; his life has been about social justice and unity. Even just five minutes in his company, as so many Israelis will attest, particularly through the long traumatic sequence of funeral after funeral he has attended, shows a man of exceptional humanity, compassion, and integrity.

This latest incident has done nothing to disabuse the increasing global narrative that Ireland is the most antisemitic country in the world. I do not believe, or perhaps I do not want to believe, that this is the case.